Percy's lessons
by pjofan20
Summary: Percy has always been bad at archery but things go from bad to worse when he gets a new tutor. How will he do with his new lessons. Takes place right after BOTL
1. Cousins

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You can do it Percy."I heard Chiron say. I was drawing yet another arrow for my camp archery final and it was about 9 at night. Confidence in my archery skills disappeared hours ago after shooting most of the other campers._ You just have to focus_ I thought.I took a deep breath and let go. Unfortunately I must have gotten distracted because I let go of the bow.

Chiron sighed "Try again."

"I can't do it Chiron."I said.

"You're going to have to."He said. "Archery is an important skill for any hero to learn. And you need to be ready for any situation."

"Yea but I just can't get it right."I replied. "I'll just take the F."

"Maybe you need a new teacher." He stated."Go get some sleep we'll try again in the morning."

I nodded and left for cabin 3.

"What did he mean by new teacher?" I said to myself. "He's been teaching for thousands of years. Who could be better than him?"I guess it's just something to worry about in the morning.

That morning after breakfast I walked down to the archery range. Chiron was there teaching the Hermes cabin. They weren't great archers but at least they hit the target.

"Hey Chiron…"I said. "Can I finish my final now?"

"Hello Percy."He replied. "Your teacher should be here any minute now."

"So you aren't teaching me?"I asked.

"I think that you need more of a professional."He said."Though you should already know your tutor. There she is now." I looked to where he gestured and saw an auburn haired 12 year old coming toward us.

"You've got to be kidding me. Artemis is my tutor."I said. Chiron nodded.

"Hello cousin." She said.

"Good luck Percy."Chiron said. Yea I'm going to need it I finished in my head as he walked away. By the time these "lessons" are over I'm either to be shot full of arrows, turned into an animal, or both.

"Why did you agree to be my tutor?"I asked.

"I've seen your archery Jackson you're going to need all the help you can get. My brother was busy and I still owe you for holding up the sky."She replied and threw me a t-shirt. "Your first lesson starts now."

I put the white t over my orange camp shirt. I was kind of afraid because it had targets on the front and back.

"Umm what's with the targets?"I asked.

"You'll see."She replied.

"You know I did have one good shot…"I started

"Against Geryon."She finished. "You got lucky on that shot."

"Hey Percy."I heard a voice say from behind. I turned and saw my half cousin Thalia coming over.

"What are you doing here?"I asked.

"The hunters and I are staying at camp and I heard you were taking archery lessons."She said taking out a camera. "I'm putting this on DTube."

"You mean YouTube."I corrected.

"No I mean DTube." she stated. "DTube is like YouTube but for demigods. Do you mind Artemis?"

"Not at all." she responded. "Actually you're just in time. Did you bring your weapons?"

"Of course."Thalia replied literally taking her bow out of now where.

"Good."Artemis said. "I need you to shoot Percy. Try not to kill him though."I knew I was going to get hurt today.

"Ok." she said putting the camera in a nearby tree. "I'll use the blunt tipped arrows."I could tell by the smile on her fact that she was going to enjoy this.

I heard the countdown and ran as fast as I could. I felt some shots hit my back and I turned around. Thalia was running a few yards back. I've learned from experience that she could run right past me. What was she up to? She shot one more arrow that hit the back of my knee. I tripped and fell with a thud.

I took out my sword and tried to fight back but she was too far away to hit her. I charged and she ran backwards. She shot a few more arrows and hit my sword away. The next thing I knew I was back on the ground.

"Need a little help cousin?"Thalia said helping me up. We headed back to the archery range.

"So Percy did you learn anything?"Artemis asked.

"Yes never get Thalia mad."I said.

"And…"She said

"Umm…"I thought. What did Thalia do? She rolled her eyes.

"Don't get to close to your opponent."She responded.

"How does this help me again?"I asked.

"What's the point of learning how to do something without knowing when to use it?"She responded.

"She has a point."Thalia said. Then we heard the dinner call.

"You two should go."Artemis said. "Your lessons are over for today." I gave her back the target t shirt and walked to the pavilion. I could feel the bruises on my back already. This was only the first class. I didn't want to find out what we were going to do tomorrow. I had a feeling I wasn't going to get any easier.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Too bad for Percy. Got any complaints or comments write it in the reviews.


	2. Straight as an arrow or not

Chapter 2 is finally up. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer. I don't own PJO

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thalia Pov.

Percy and I were walking to the Pavilion. Then we caught up with our friend Annabeth.

"Percy what happened?" She said. "You're covered in dirt."

"My cousins hate me." He replied.

"What did Nico do now?" She asked.

"Who said anything about Nico?" I said smiling.

"What did you do?" Annabeth asked me. I took out my camera.

"See for yourself." I said and pressed play. It showed everything from Percy running to his second fall. I laughed like crazy when I saw that he fell right in front of the camera. The look on his face was priceless. When the video ended and I put it back into my backpack.

"So you beat up Percy." She said.

"Yea but don't worry he'll be fine. It was just an archery lesson."I said.

"I can't believe Chiron would do something like this." She said.

"Chiron isn't my teacher." Percy mumbled.

"Then who the Hades is your teacher!" She yelled.

"Artemis." He replied.

"And she thinks this will work." Annabeth said.

"It worked for me." I stated. They both looked at me.

"When did that happen?" Percy asked.

"Remember last winter when we faced Atlas." I said. They both replied yes. "It was the day after the solstice my birthday. I've got the scars to prove it."

"So you know what I'm doing next." Percy said.

"I'm not sure." I replied. "She might do something different for you." Percy didn't seem to like that answer but he let it go.

The rest of the walk was silence until we entered the pavilion. We said goodbye as we each went to our different tables. Annabeth and I sat with our cabin mates and Percy of course sat alone.

"Where were you?"Phoebe asked as Chiron clanged his glass to make an announcement. I mouthed the words _I'll tell you later_ and listened.

"This is just a reminder that we will be playing capture the flag tomorrow campers vs. hunters." He said. I smirked and thought _hopefully this goes better than the last game I played_. _I'm on a different team this time. This time I won't lose._

Percy Pov.

_Great_ I thought sarcastically when I heard we'd be playing capture the flag. _I'm going to get beat up again at archery and then I'm going to have to play the hunters after dinner. _

After dinner I slowly made it back to my cabin. I didn't have to knock because I'm the only that lives there since Tyson left after the battle a few weeks ago. I walked up to my fountain and checked my reflection. My chest was covered in small black bruises and I knew my back wasn't much better. I willed the water to come up and I immediately felt better.

_Cool I still have an hour before curfew._ I thought as I checked my watch. _That gives me just enough time to get in some sword fighting practice. _When I got down there the Ares cabin was practicing. _Perfect… _I thought. _Toying with Clarisse is sure to make me feel better._ I knew that they were no match for me.

"That's one way to kill an hour." I said while heading back to my cabin for bed.

The next day didn't go much better than the last one. This time I actually got to use a bow. The first arrow I shot hit the ground. _Not bad_. I thought since I was still better that how I normally do. The second shot bounced off a tree and pinned me to a wall. I was embarrassed and the worst part was that Thalia got it all on tape.

"Really Jackson…"Artemis said while pulling the arrow out of the wall. "How can you be this pathetic?"

"I don't know." I replied. "I thought I was doing well." She looked at me like I was kidding.

"Do it like this next time."She said shooting a bull's eye without looking.

"Maybe I should move in closer." I suggested moving toward the target until I finally hit it.

"There you go."I said.

"Percy you shot at point blank!" She exclaimed. "Anyone could do that. Now get back here." I walked back to the start. I notched another arrow and fired. It looked like another shot into the ground until it turned around back at me. I ran out of the way but it curved again and was chasing me.

"I thought arrows went in a straight path." I said while running.

"They do for the most part." She replied. "Someone must have switched the arrow out for an enchanted one. Do you know anyone who would do something like this?"

_It must be the Stoll brothers. They're always pulling pranks_. I thought. I can't tell Artemis this. She has this thing against boys. She barely tolerates me and I traveled across the country to save her from Atlas. As much as Conner and Travis annoy me I couldn't put them in that kind of danger.

"I have no idea." I lied. I wasn't sure if she could tell if I was lying or not but she didn't bring it up again. "Now how do I get it to stop chasing me?"

"Easy let it hit you." She said. I was hoping she wouldn't say that. I slowed down and got hit in my sword arm. I'm going to pay for that later. After many more hours of humiliating myself in front of the camera it was finally time for dinner.

"Hey Percy…"She yelled as I was about to leave. "Don't lie to me again." Dang that backfired.

"I bet I got some great footage today." Thalia said while picking up her camera from the archery range.

"How would you know?" I said.

"I know you cousin." She responded. "Plus I heard your screaming all the way from my cabin."

"I was screaming." I said in shock. I didn't think I was.

"Trust me you were." She said reviewing the tape. "I was thinking of _Prophecy kid gets hurt_ for a title. What do you think?"

"I'm not the prophecy kid for sure." I replied. "I still got a year to go."

"Come on Percy what could happen in one year." She said.

"You were one day away." I stated.

"Yea but the difference is that you have to die for it not to be you." She replied.

"Look if you can beat the camp in capture the flag today then I'll agree with your title." I said

"You're on Percy." she replied. "Camp half blood has never won against the hunters and you won't start today."

"We'll see." I muttered. "Wait a minute we've never won." She smirked and walked away.

_They can't win every time right. They must have lost at least once._ I thought all through dinner. Since I was the captain of team camp half-blood I had to find their week point. One of the only advantages we had was the amount of people. They were definitely out numbered.

"So what's the plan?" I asked Annabeth after diner. We made her the t eam strategist because trust me her plans are foolproof.

"Well…"She replied. "I was thinking since we have more people that we should use the pincer movement."

"Sounds great now what does it mean." I stated.

"It's an old World War 2 formation. It means that we send in 2 groups and completely surround them." She said. "Since they use long range weapons they'll stand no chance. While that is happening you rush in and grab the flag."

"Ok but what about defense?" I asked.

"We will have a few people on defense." She replied. "I don't expect them to send to many people to get the flag. Didn't they send in a small group last time?"

"Yes but they completely broke through the Stoll brothers and Nico." I said. "Yet again they did lose Zoe and she was their main offense."

"Hey you two gear up." Clarisse interrupted throwing me a helmet which hit me in the chest. "We've got a game to win."

"So are we all clear on the plan." Annabeth asked. Some people nodded some didn't. She sighed. "We're putting the Ares, Apollo, Poseidon, Athena and Aphrodite cabins on offense. The Hermes, Dionysius, and Demeter cabins are on defense."

"What about me?" Nico asked.

"You're on offense." She replied.

"What about the flag?" Silena asked.

"It's going on Zeus's fist. That was Thalia can't get to it." I said.

"How would that stop Thalia?" Clarisse asked.

"She can't climb well." I lied. The truth was that she was afraid of heights but if I told them she'd kill me.

"We're going to crush them." Clarisse said.

"We're winning for camp half blood." I cheered and everyone else joined in.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Will Percy lead his team to victory or will they lose again. Find out in chapter 3._


End file.
